Liver Fibrosis, Not Steatosis, Associates with Long-Term Outcomes in Ischaemic Stroke Patients

Background: To investigate whether there are differences in long-term all-cause and cardiovascular mortality according to the burden of liver fibrosis or steatosis in patients with ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA). ­Methods: Consecutive patients with acute ischaemic stroke or TIA who underwent transient elastography (TE) from January 2014 to December 2014 were considered eligible. The influence of liver fibrosis or steatosis, assessed via TE, on long-term outcomes was investigated using Cox proportional hazard models. Results: Among 395 patients included in this study, there were 37 (9%) patients with significant fibrosis (> 8.0 kPa) and 164 (41.5%) patients with fatty liver (> 250 dB/m). During the follow-up period (median 2.7 years), all-cause and cardiovascular mortality occurred in 28 (7.1%) and 20 (5.1%) patients. On multivariate analyses, significant liver fibrosis was independently associated with increased risk of all-cause (hazard ratio [HR] 8.14, 95% CI 3.03–21.90, p 0.05). Conclusions: This study found that the burden of liver fibrosis but not that of steatosis, assessed via TE, was an independent predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality during long-term follow-up in patients with ischaemic stroke.